It is known that polysuccinimide can be produced by reacting maleic anhydride, water and ammonia at a molar ratio of maleic anhydride to ammonia of 1:1 to 1.5 at 120.degree. to 150.degree. C. (Boehmke U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,461), or by first reacting maleic anhydride, water and ammonia below 150.degree. C. and then polymerizing that reaction product with a preformed polysuccinimide at a higher temperature (Koskan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,952). The polysuccinimide can be base hydrolyzed to polyaspartic acid, a compound suitable as an antideposition agent, and as a plant nutrient uptake facilitator. Polysuccinimide itself is useful as a builder for detergent compositions and also as an antideposition agent.
Such prior art processes suffer from various disadvantages, however. For one thing, they are capital intensive, energy intensive, and time consuming because the maleic anhydride is mixed with water at elevated temperature, the ammonia is added in a manner minimizing ammonia loss, and the water of solution is evaporated with vacuum or heating. Also, expensive ammonia handling equipment is needed at all stages of the reaction.
The art needs a new and improved method for producing polysuccinimide which overcomes these disadvantages.